The Beehive (Nature storybooks)

Megan Daley (text) and Max Hamilton (illustrator), The Beehive (Nature storybooks), Walker Books Australia, January 2024, 32 pp., RRP $26.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760655228

If you’re in the Australian children’s book industry, and I point out to you that the author of The Beehive is Megan Daley, I know you’ve just left this page and added it to a shopping cart. I certainly did a little squeal when I unwrapped it.

I don’t think I need to give Megan any introduction, so if her name is unfamiliar, go ahead and google her. While she is already a published author, The Beehive is her first picture book, and we all know that picture books are trickier to write than most people think, so it’s very brave of her to venture into this role.

Interestingly, The Beehive is a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction. On the first page, readers are introduced to Willow, a schoolgirl, whose favourite creatures are the native stingless bee. We also start to be drip-fed facts about bees, but in a different font to show that it is not part of the story. The narrative continues and we meet the school groundskeeper who monitors the school hives and know everything about bees. The central focus is about how, when, and why they split the hive, which allows Willow to take home a hive box for her backyard.

On my first read I worried that inter-filing the bee facts with the narrative would impact the flow of reading aloud. However, I do think this is the type of subject that kids will be curious about as they read, so having the information readily at hand to satisfy that curiosity will work really well for some readers. By using the distinguishing font, it also means that a grown up could skip the facts if what they want is to only read the story.

The front cover is spectacular, and so are the end-pages. I also think the illustrator has done a terrific job with the close-up depictions of the bees, the hives and the many images of Australian flora and fauna throughout the book.

This will be a great addition to a children’s library collection- it’s a must if your school keeps bees.

Reviewed by Cherie Bell

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